SC - Re: verjuice

[James Prescott]

At 19:26 -0500 2001-04-01, Stefan li Rous wrote:

> It is my feeling that in period the grapes used in verjuice were the
> green ones that had to be culled from the vines anyway. Used in verjuice
> they had more value than as animal feed or compost.

Inaccurate.  Verjuice grape varieties were cultivated specifically 
for making verjuice, and were harvested before they were ripe.

Undoubtedly sub-standard verjuice was made from all sorts of other
things including grapes from other varieties that just weren't going 
to grow up to be proper adult grapes; but the good stuff was made 
from varieties developed and grown for the purpose.

They also used anything else tart to make alternate verjuices, such 
as sorrel, gooseberries, crabapples, and so on.

In some French recipes whole verjuice grapes, cooked and uncooked, 
are called for.


Thorvald